The Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, has affirmed before the Health Commission of the Congress that Spain could already be "approaching the peak of the curve" of the pandemic. He has said it "with all caution", but has emphasized that "the data of the last few days indicates a change in trend", which leads experts to suppose that "we could be at the beginning of a stabilization phase." Claims are made on the day that the data indicates that Spain has already exceeded 56,000 infected cases and 4,000 deceased

Illa, however, has insisted that these provisions must be taken with the utmost care and in no case can they lead to a relaxation of the isolation and protection measures taken by citizens. "No one knows exactly when we will reach the end," he stressed before assuring that "no one, no country, will be able to get out of this situation alone." And he added: "We still have hard weeks ahead"

The minister added that it was on January 23 when the first protocol for action against the pandemic was published. It is, he said, a "living" document that has been adapted as circumstances required and has ensured that Spain has "anticipated WHO's recommendations."

The first case in our country was detected on January 31 on the island of La Gomera. He was a German tourist, he recalled. From then on, "scalable" measures were adopted and since then "work has been done together" with all the autonomies. But, he has also admitted, that the situation in Europe began to "turn around" in the last days of February.

On March 3, the number of positives in Spain was already 149. It was at that time, according to Illa, when it was confirmed that there was "community contamination" but it was "sporadic". The experts recommended, he stressed, the maintenance of the "containment phase" and the CCAA "agreed."

On March 6, the EU ministers meeting by videoconference agreed to reinforce the purchase of medical supplies.

"In Spain, at the end of the first week of March, the follow-up mechanisms had been strengthened with the Autonomous Communities", but it was "on Sunday, March 8, when a significant number of cases were reported at night (294) in the Community of Madrid. The Basque Country also doubled the number of those affected, "he explained.

Thus, on Monday the 9th, reinforcement measures were agreed following the criteria of the experts and the WHO and in coordination with the Autonomous Communities and the European authorities. "There has been no change in the method, but in the situation," he said.

"Spain has applied the most drastic measures and has mobilized all public and private resources" to protect citizens. "The citizens have understood it," he said, referring to the confinement imposed by the state of alarm.

Illa has emphasized that the purchase of material by the Autonomous Communities has never been hindered and has listed the quantities of masks distributed among the autonomous regions between March 6 and 25. The one that has received the most, according to their data, has been Madrid. He also explained that material purchases in China for 509 million euros have already been closed between surgical and non-surgical masks, gloves, rapid diagnostic tests and respirators that "will be arriving in the course of the next few weeks."

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  • Spain
  • Salvador Illa
  • Basque Country
  • Madrid
  • March 8
  • Europe
  • Madrid's community
  • China

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